The impact of fluency in college students’ leisure sports on happiness: The moderating role of leisure satisfaction

Background: As a key way to promote the physical and mental health of college students, the relationship between leisure sports and happiness has become the focus of social attention. Purpose: The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of college students' fluency in leisure sports activities on their happiness, and explore the moderating effect of leisure satisfaction. Results: The questionnaire survey method was adopted to select 589 college students by stratified sampling. The data were collected using the fluency scale, happiness scale and leisure satisfaction scale of leisure sports activities, and statistical analysis was conducted by SPSS software. The results show that fluency positively predicted happiness (β=.510, p<.001). Furthermore, leisure satisfaction significantly moderates this relationship, with higher leisure satisfaction amplifying the positive effect of fluency on happiness (ΔR² =.117, p < .01). Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of fostering fluency states in leisure sports to enhance college students' happiness, particularly when coupled with high leisure satisfaction. Universities and sports organizers should create a positive sports culture atmosphere and build a social psychological environment supporting college students to participate in sports activities, so as to help college students gain a sense of fluency in leisure sports activities, improve their happiness, and promote their physical and mental health. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.